Creative Inquiry Opportunities
USING WHIPTAIL LIZARDS TO UNDERSTAND THE INTEGRATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND HOST GENETIC EFFECTS ON HOST- ASSOCIATED MICROBIOTA
If you're interested in participating, send an email to:
Ben Camper ([email protected]) and CC Dr. Bewick ([email protected])
Ben Camper ([email protected]) and CC Dr. Bewick ([email protected])
Background Animals, including humans, harbor large numbers of different microbes on and in their bodies – so called host-associated microbiota. Recently, scientists have begun to realize that host-associated microbiota are important determinants of host health. Microbes in an animal’s gut, for instance, impact digestion and can even help to determine whether the animal is lean or obese. Meanwhile, microbes on an animal’s skin can influence everything from wound healing to susceptibility to cutaneous disease. Despite the importance of host-associated microbiota to host health, there is a surprising amount of variation in the microbiota on one host relative to another. How do these differences emerge? More specifically, are these differences a result of nature (i.e., host genetics) or nurture (i.e., host environment)? Because most animals are genetically unique, it can be hard to determine whether inter-individual differences in host-associated microbiota are a result of host genetics, environment or both. In humans, the nature/nurture dichotomy is sometimes studied using twins. But even with twins, there are only two genetically identical individuals that can be compared. In whiptail lizards, however, there are entire populations of genetically identical clones. What’s more, these clones are closely related to other, sexually reproducing whiptail lizard species where each individual lizard is genetically unique. By comparing inter-individual variation in host-associated microbiota across different environments in clonal lizard populations versus sexually reproducing lizard populations, it will be possible to assess the relative importance of both host genetics and environment on host-associated microbiota.
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Project Interested students will spend the Spring 2024 term learning to analyze data collected in the field using basic statistical techniques from community and microbial ecology. In addition, students will learn to do DNA extractions in the lab, and will participate in a range of salamander, lizard and insect fieldwork to learn relevant techniques. For students who excel during the Winter term, there will also be opportunities to spend Summer 2024 participating in fieldwork, which will take place in central New Mexico and/or Texas. Students who cannot participate in the Spring 2024 CI but are interested in doing summer work can still apply, but will be expected to participate in a Fall 2024 CI.
Additional Details (A) The fieldwork component of this work is extremely demanding. You will be camping in the desert for several months without access to running water (no showers and no toilets for the majority of the time). On and off, you will spend hours digging trenches in the desert heat to put up drift fences for lizard trapping. Rattlesnakes are commonly seen; sometimes they even get into the traps. There are also scorpions... and spiders... and centipedes. On occasion, you will have to hike up to 12 miles in the heat with no shade; (B) students must be sophomore or juniors; you need to be enrolled for the Fall 2024 semester; (C) You will work closely with my technician, Ben Camper ([email protected]) who is leading the project. |
If you're the type of person who loves working outside, loves hands-on labor, loves lizards, and loves ecology, you're the type of person we're looking for.
We are recruiting for Spring and Summer 2024!